PKI major announcement soon.

^Not to mention how many they will need ;)

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SLFAKE said:

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Mutedarkness said:
Well ther park has to do other improvements to make the park up to Cedar Fair standards

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What? Like rip out all of the trees and pave over every remaining square yard of grass?

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Right on the mark SFLAKE!

Dorney's ruined, That new part of WOF with Mamba looks out of place in a otherwise beautiful park.

Knotts atmosphere being removed? SHEESH!

Chuck, who thought the retheme of PKI's Congo section to Action zone only sterlized the area.

It's sad but true. Think of Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, how pretty that area used to be before they yanked out all those trees and paved over the area. As much as I love TTD, I'd almost rather have the scenery back.

PKI makes me sad. Does anybody remember the old, ivy-covered tunnel between Hannah-Barbera Land and Rivertown? That used to be my favorite part of the park, along with the lake.

Don't forget Hershey. That place looks more like a permanent fair than any park I've seen. Well, except maybe Del Grosso's.

I remember the tunnel. If I remember right, there was also a large slide near the tunnel as well.

Can anyone confirm this?

The tunnel served the purpose of transferring the "theming" from HB to Rivertown. It was cut in half in the 90's, then sealed off in '01 and used as a dining patio behind an HB eatery. It was removed entirely last year.

Chuck... I am confused... you agreed that you didn't like the Cedar Fair way of "paving" things at their parks, but you also said you didn't like the "paving" of Action Zone? So are you saying PKI is already "ruined?" or will be "ruined" by CF?

IMO, I'd like to see some of the original theming elements brought back to KI in terms of making shops on International Street once again International etc. I thought that the staff did a good job of keeping the landscaping clean and pretty at KI over the years, but had seen a lot of budget cuts when it came to "beautification" such as flowers and gardens dissapearing.

Although CF definitely has a pension for paving large areas and replacing trees with tented queues... I also recall that there's a good share of flowers and such at the CF parks I have visited. My mind always drifts to the main midway at Cedar Point. Isn't there a large botanical image created with flowers each year?

Just remember, a lot of the behind the scenes staff remains at KI... meaning groundskeepers, matinentance etc. They've been at it for years, I am sure they'll do the best job they can with the budget they are given.

Shaggy

I Mean the only improving CF will do for PKI is rides and eateries.

Asthetics, They don't care.

Don't get me wrong, COmpared to when PKI was KECO, IT's been going downhill ever since.

The last straw for me with paramound was Italian Job. That coaster could have been put anywhere but they took the nicest part of the park for it.

Chuck

Yes there was a slide near that area in HBL. It was moved from the Coney section, I believe, somewhere in front of Racer.

Chuck, that area at WoF is the Cedar Point themed section of the park, and I think they did a good job with it. ;)

Anyone have pictures of these places? The tunnel or Congo section that used to be at PKI or the area at WOF that was ruined? Just curious.

Does anybody have any idea where X-Flight will go, or any idea's what they should do with it. What are the chances it will go to MiAdv or any other parks besides PKI. *** Edited 1/10/2007 10:23:00 PM UTC by Hoek***

^ Realistically the chances of x-flight going to MiA is practically zilch. I would be willing to bet the bank on it ending up in PKI. We've been through this many times. I don't think you want to go there again, or somebody might send Tigger after you. :) Let's just give them a couple of weeks to make the official announcement and stop beating the dead horse.

I know many have seen this pic from Christmas Day, and I won't speculate any, but there's something going on next to FOF.

http://photos.pkicentral.com/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=4

Charles N said:

"The last straw for me with paramound was Italian Job. That coaster could have been put anywhere but they took the nicest part of the park for it. "

For once Chuck and I agree. At the media day for IJ, I was literally sick on my stomach from the trashy eyesore theming. I greatly appreciated being invited, and thought the coaster fun, but that junky looking coaster was installed in, and sacrificed, the most beautiful area of the park.

To top it off, the park removed the Flying Eagles under the guise of "needing that land for IJ." Bull crap. The real story is, Tim Fisher stamped his feet and demanded it go to Carowinds (which he was overseeing at the time.) because he liked the success of the ride when he was GM at KI. He wanted to save a few pennies and relocate it. I was never personally a fan of the Eagles, but I was angry to see an original Coney ride, and original ride to KI packed up shipped off... let alone being lied to about it.

After seeing IJ, I was heartbroken. Many things became clear to me that day. And the park lost a TON of it's magic for me. I felt that the former Paramount honcho's had such an inferiority complex to Universal Studios that they felt they needed to overtheme lackluster rides and plop them anywhere in the park rather than place quality rides in a properly themed area. It became obvious to me on that day that all along they wanted nothing more than to be a "poor mans" Universal.

I liked some of the things that the Paramount Years brought. FOF is a great coaster, and really stretched the boundries of what a coaster could do technologically. Volcano is a short, but fun and enjoyable ride. Drop Zone is the epitome of a thrill ride. Delirium is the best install that KI has seen since Beast IMO. Etc etc etc

But on the flip side, you got real razzies too. IJ being the culmination of years of non-direction and bad thinking.

aside from that rant.... I have always felt there's a distinct difference between KI and Cedar Point. Others may disagree with me, but KI had always been a theme park in my eyes. Cedar Point has always been an amusement park in my eyes. There's a big difference. I'll be anxious to see if they intend to continue that distinction in order to differentiate the two to the public.

I will say that I am pleasantly surprised at Maverick's themeing and placement at Cedar Point. It's fits it's area (although CP needs another coaster as much as I need a bump on the head.) very well.

Shaggy

I agree. I honestly don't think Drop Zone would be the ride it is. But a three our four tower S&S for capasity.

I really hope CP does the capasity and good ride bit and does away with a lot of the theme except for areas.

Chuck, who didn't mention the Scooters in his post but will mention it now. I won't be back till they are in some form or another.

Well, if we all get to make a wish list, I want the Zodiac back. And Halley's Comet. Oh, and Enchanted Voyage. That was the greatest little ride. I can still hear the song in my head sometimes. Scooby Doo is fun in an interactive sort of way, but it can't hold a candle to the old ride, back before they turned it into that horrid Smurf nightmare. *retches*

These are friends that live in my TV! :)

I just wanted to post the hard to find video that they show in the q for the beast. I was going to start another post, but I thought that since this thread was about kings island that I would post it here.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7289711399869627611&q=The+Beast+roller+coaster

I wish that kings island would sell this video.

THANK GOD someone posted this, You could never watch the whole thing inline or get the sound for that matter.

I love how it shows the old commercial, It running in it's original form (4 bench, buzzbar, no highback and mulit colored train)

Carl E's first day rides stories sound just like my own from ridding that first night (Rain, Cold, Nobody cared and OH HOLY BLEEP)

Honestly, Not until Voyage did I ever get that excited and hooked on a ride since that first day on Beast.

Love also how they show it running with workers in the structure and only the roof on the helix which is how we rode it first year. The corners wern't banked either :)

Chuck

P18, here's the only shot I could find of the green tunnel at PKI Central:

http://photos.pkicentral.com/displayimage.php?album=94&pos=8

Tom

Thats after it was cut in half and used for dining area.

I remember going to SFSTL and walking thorugh one and remembering PKI's.

Chuck